tommy

MJP, do they serve slice? or just whole pies. If it's just whole pies, are they small, like 12 inches?

Really? Now I'll have to bite the bullet and try the burger at Copeland. Seeing that you were so on target about Michael's Roscommon House. I'll be sure to post my review! ← there's no comparison. a different league altogether. i posted about it at length on my blog here.

Brooklyn's pizza in Edgewater, Hackensack, and Ridgewood do it as well (although one could argue that this still is more "brooklyn" that "italian". when i think "italian", i think Neapolitan-style, although there are many approaches to pizza in Italy). I'm looking forward to trying Foschini's take on it. coal-burning ovens are few and far between, and almost always a very good thing. it might be important to note that this type of pizza doesn't fare well when taken out. it cooks so quickly and is usually thin, so it doesn't hold up well over the time it takes to get home. but it's still better than most other pizza. have a pizza stone hot and ready to go, and plop some slices on it when you get home.

i'm tempted to suggest Vetta Pizza at 12 Oak. never tried it, but it's a bar, and looks kind of OK.

LOL! Bob, I thought you meant that by removing the sediment from the *bottle* that you were somehow removing all of this great flavor. You're apparently referring to unfiltered wines, though. we're on the same page now.

i don't think removing sediment means removing flavor. i've never heard that before. sediment has no place in your glass, and is quite unpleasant to most people. the server dropped the ball and should have not poured the sediment into the decanter, regardless of flitering technique. a bigger problem is servers constantly pouring the last drops out of bottles. i call servers off when the bottle gets near the bottom because i know that they'll do this, and that's at all levels of restaurants. bottom line is that wine service is horribly lacking in a vast majority of restaurants.

i recall very much enjoying pizza at Paul's Bar and Bowling, on Crooks. of course, it was generally 2 am, and it's a bar pie. if i'm not going to the Star Tavern, Kinchley's, Nellie's, or Brooklyn's, i'm making my own. i find it's always better than regular pizza places.

Porterhouse? Strip? ← Porterhouse always at luger's, ben and jack's, and wolfgang's. and bacon. nothing else.

i had what might have been the best steak i've ever had last night, at Ben and Jack's. i didn't check the carcass for a Prime stamp, but i didn't have to, as the meat was tender, and had a wonderful minerally flavor. Better than my last couple of steaks at Wolfgang's without a doubt. and the FOH team is gracious and friendly.

i've been sucked into impromtu tequila tastings, wine tastings with managers and vendors, and a host of free drinks and other "extras" when bar dining. having no friends has its advantages, as long as you're bar dining.

hank, Rosa Mexicano is opening in Riverside Square. That's at least a step in the right direction. I need to remind everyone to not go to Mama Mexico expecting anything other than upscale tex-mex chain food with upscale prices to match.

Would you (or anyone else) happen to know which North Jersy TJs sell wine? I know mine (Florham Park) doesn't. ← aside from TJ's in westfield, as unleash suggests, i'm tempted to consider this wine: http://www.winerz.com/9cc_7124.html not exactly the same, but at 64 bucks a case, it might be worth a try. same producer i think.

there you go with that elementary math again. i'm thinking we're being fooled some of the time. From local mom-and-pops to the big chains. We already know they often suggest dry-aging, when in reality they're wet-aging.

I think there are too many steakhouses chasing not enough prime beef. Over the last 2-3 years, there's been an explosion in the number of steakhouses. The number of cows yielding the best cuts of meat cannot possibly have grown by a similar proportion.i've often said that, but i don't believe it. i think cows are slaughtered for steak under 3 years of age or so. and why can't the number of Prime graded steaks increase? it's set in stone? God's work only? i doubt that. This seems like elementary mathematics to me. right. more cows would mean more Prime beef. if there isn't enough Prime to go around, and i do suspect that this might be the case, then i have to wonder how restaurants get away with claiming USDA Prime. Yes, many say "prime", which is meaningless. they're deceiving the public. as Colamecco said, if you want to make sure you're getting USDA Prime at a steakhouse, ask to see the carcass and the stamp.

in most businesses, it's not about who really does the work, whether it's building the cars or who's on support 24/7 making sure the computer servers don't go down. it's about the people who deal with the public, and are actually able to talk and sell and liaise with regular people. that's where the value is. unfortunately so many servers aren't even qualified, but still get 20% of the bill and tip out as little as they want to to the bar backs and bartender, and yeah, not the kitchen. if you want to make the big bucks, change vocations, and learn to talk to people. is that an option? a lot of kitchen staff i've seen on "eG' and other forums and certainly in "real life", which is probably more of a barometer, seem a little, well, a little wild and hard to deal with. So i'm not sure that kissing ass in a public relations capacity is really what they want, or what they're good at. can't anyone cook, though? i don't want to sound disparaging here, but Bill Buford seemed somewhat succesful during his stint in a top kitchen. even i've functioned OK in a professional kitchen. if it's an issue of supply and demand, as most things are, what can you expect as a cook? hopefully some wine at the end of the shift. that said, at BYOB's, which are very popular in NJ where i live, i generally leave any leftover wine and direct the server to give it to the kitchen staff at the end of the night. From my experience, i've found that this is appreciated. and who wouldn't want a glass of wine or two after a 12 hour shift in the kitchen? heck, i wish i could go back and share it with them.

Should have known it'd be a Malbec. In my opinion, maybe the most underated varietal in the world, but as long as it keeps selling four $4 bucks, let's keep it a secret ok? ← shhhh. ixnay on the albecbay. m'aykay?

ho-ho-kus is indeed quite north. Carlo Russo started out, if i know my history, in Fort Lee (right next the the George Washington Bridge). i used to go there right out of college when i worked in Fort Lee. and then I'd travel up when i lived in hoboken. i then moved out to the burbs of Bergen county, and saw that they had a small shop in ho-ho-kus, and i was pleased (they closed the Fort Lee store soon after). anyway, you bastard, you made me look through a bunch of pictures that i have because i knew i'd find a shot of the wine, as i don't recall the name. the info is: 2005 Barrio La Boca Malbec Mendoza Argentina. the picture is here. i still need to blog and post about that meal at Gaucho Steak. since it was in 11/2006, i guess i'm falling behind. it's an outstanding value at 4 bucks at Trader Joe's, and a great value at 10 if you can find it anywhere else. my guess is that it's available only through TJ's. i hope you find it and enjoy the hell out of it. and don't tell your friends the price, of course, until they're well into the first 3 bottles. i know a bit about those silly laws in PA, as i had friends in college there back in the day. perhaps the rules have changed even over the last 15 years. regardless, as i suggested, i discovered tres picos at a wine tasting a our local wine shop. these wine tastings are free, and happen every weekend, and usually consist of 4 or 5 wines. oh yes, you should be jealous.

yeah, it makes me ill to my stomach too, like stuff on the 5 o'clock news. i still haven't found that link on epicurious.com, so maybe we're all saved.

i've been drinking the shit out of this wine for the past few years after a tasting at Carlo Russo, and i agree. a great, reliable not-overly-fruity red, and availabe at Bottle King and Carlo Russo in Ho-ho-kus, and elsewhere if you ask. a great introduction to Grenache and Spain, if you're not already convinced. Buy a case, because you and/or your friends will drink it with a smile. ← Tommy, I popped open a few bottles during the ill fated Eagles playoff game last week and all my wine loving friends were like "what the f... is this shit? I don't know about you but I get a real kick out of telling people about really great wines that can be had for less than $15 bucks let alone $10!! BTW, what/where is Carlo Russo? ← Jeff, Carlo Russo is a great wine store in Bergen county in ho-ho-kus, which doesn't even sound like a town's name if you don't know it. Spain has some great values. I'm trying to remember if it was spain, but I had dinner with dbrociner from egullet in montclair, and he brought a bottle of red that we throttled down. it was a very nice-drinking wine. after i was convinced, he told me that it was 4 dollars. even better than 10 i say. Yes, there's just nothing better than that.

i've been drinking the shit out of this wine for the past few years after a tasting at Carlo Russo, and i agree. a great, reliable not-overly-fruity red, and availabe at Bottle King and Carlo Russo in Ho-ho-kus, and elsewhere if you ask. a great introduction to Grenache and Spain, if you're not already convinced. Buy a case, because you and/or your friends will drink it with a smile.

I think there are too many steakhouses chasing not enough prime beef. Over the last 2-3 years, there's been an explosion in the number of steakhouses. The number of cows yielding the best cuts of meat cannot possibly have grown by a similar proportion. ← i've often said that, but i don't believe it. i think cows are slaughtered for steak under 3 years of age or so. and why can't the number of Prime graded steaks increase? it's set in stone? God's work only? i doubt that. however, given my bias toward dry-aged minerally-tasting steaks, i generally do not eat steaks that aren't dry-aged. "Best steak", to me, implies dry-aging and minerally flavor. Prime isn't a big a concern to me, since i think it's all a bit nebulous. My experiences at Luger's, Wolfgang's, Ben and Jack's, and other steakhouses (who claim to offer USDA Prime/dry-aged steaks) suggest to me that you will sometimes get minerally flavor (from dry-aging) depending on where the steak is cut from, and how it's trimmed, and you'll sometimes get chewy sinew running through your strip. The best steak I've had has been in Italy, where it's a different animal, and where there's probably more of a focus on dry-aging. I will say that i've never had chewy steak at Luger's, and have at Wolfgang's, but I've been to Wolfgang's countless times and Luger's only a handful. I've also bought USDA Prime dry-aged beef from many reputable butchers, and the "quality", if defined by lack of chewy sinew and the existence of nasty-minerally flavors (flavors good), vary greatly from visit to visit. bottom line: salt and pepper and char more than often defines the "taste" of most steaks served across the country, and in NYC, and the often-non-existent-minerally-taste might separate the wheat from the chaff. Whether people realize or not is open for debate. show me a reputable source that suggests that farmers have not been able to raise more USDA Prime cows, and I'd be interested in reading it. beyond that, i'm not convinced that any steakhouse is able to control their quality as they could even 4 years ago. There's a new steakhouse on every corner serving USDA Prime steak. something doesn't add up. salt, pepper, high heat and mold are the answer, methinks. if the answer is that the USDA has stretched their definition that much, well, that's another thread.

such a strong word, though. the NYC office of tourism, that bunch of manipulative bastards.

i don't know if "cynical" should be used to decribe the ploy rather than its critics. RW is a way of promoting the city, its restaurants, and tourism in general. when someone comes into the city for RW when they normally wouldn't, it's good for the city, and presumably someone is getting a nice meal that they normally wouldn't.

the term "sammies" has been around long before Rachel Ray landed on TV, everyone might, or might not, be interested to know.

if someone is there day in and day out, they might be able to say something like "he's hardly here any more", in comparison to how much he might have been there when it first opened. not that that would suggest anything to me or anyone else who would assume that an owner might be at a new restaurant more at the beginning. i'm not sure anyone on this board could confirm or deny that unless they work there. and even then i'm not sure they'd be able to confirm or deny that he has "lost interest" in the place. perhaps he's just been spending a lot more time at B&B in vegas. maybe he's spending more time with his family. maybe the plan all along was to have lidia and joe really run the place. who knows. sounds like pointless speculation, unless the source of the gossip has the intials JB and has a last name that rhymes with "itch."